New Dollar General planned for Dana Road

Published: Friday, April 26, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 6:06 p.m.

DANA — As county officials continue to analyze a contentious Dollar General store proposal in Horse Shoe, a consultant for the convenience store company has already gained approval to site another store on Dana Road.

Last month, the county’s Technical Review Committee approved a major site plan for another 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store on Dana Road, close to the intersection with Upward Road.

The committee urged developers to comply with the Dana Community plan standards, which recommend wood, stone or brick siding. The area has a mix of homes and businesses, including a Marathon gas station.

No rezoning would be required for the 3.6-acre property, which isn’t the case with the Horse Shoe store.

On April 1, commissioners tabled action on a request from The Broadway Group, a commercial development company representing Dollar General, to rezone 1.71 acres in Horse Shoe from rural residential to community commercial until it submits a traffic study.

The vote came after residents objected to the store’s proposed entrance near the intersection of Banner Farm Road and Highway 64 in Horse Shoe.

The Broadway Group agreed to commissioners’ request that it perform a traffic impact study near the proposed store location, which residents say is a dangerous stretch of the highway.

“They actually made their decision before the (commissioners’) meeting was even over with,” said Interim Planning Director Autumn Radcliff. “They said, ‘No problem – we can do that.’ They have just communicated with us this week and they should be sending that to us soon.”

Radcliff said the rezoning request won’t immediately go back to commissioners until county staff has a chance to review the traffic study, talk it over with DOT and “make sure all the assumptions are correct and that they haven’t omitted anything.”

“I suspect, within the next month or so, they (the commissioners) will discuss it again,” she said.

The proposed Dana store location already has commercial zoning, and also differs from the Horse Shoe store site from a traffic standpoint, Radcliff said.

“It’s pretty flat and it’s got good visibility in every direction,” she said.

District Engineer Steve Cannon said DOT has not issued a driveway permit for the Dana site because The Broadway Group has not yet applied for one. He said DOT has given preliminary approval for the Horse Shoe store’s driveway, contingent on it being rezoned to commercial.

“We’re going to review that (traffic study), as well,” Cannon said. “It did not meet our requirements for a traffic impact study, but we’ll review one now that it’s being done.”

Cannon said DOT did not require a traffic impact study for the store because “our cut-off is 3,000 vehicles per day, and that’s (the equivalent of) about 55,000 square feet of retail.” At less than 17 percent of that, Dollar General stores “just generally don’t produce that much traffic.”

In pointing out the dangers of another driveway on Highway 64, one Horse Shoe resident cited DOT statistics showing 32 accidents between Cummings Road and Banner Farm from 2007-2011.

But Cannon said the crash history at the Highway 64/Banner Farm junction is “just a handful over a four- or five-year period. It’s not a hazardous area.”

<p>DANA — As county officials continue to analyze a contentious Dollar General store proposal in Horse Shoe, a consultant for the convenience store company has already gained approval to site another store on Dana Road.</p><p>Last month, the county's Technical Review Committee approved a major site plan for another 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store on Dana Road, close to the intersection with Upward Road. </p><p>The committee urged developers to comply with the Dana Community plan standards, which recommend wood, stone or brick siding. The area has a mix of homes and businesses, including a Marathon gas station.</p><p>No rezoning would be required for the 3.6-acre property, which isn't the case with the Horse Shoe store. </p><p>On April 1, commissioners tabled action on a request from The Broadway Group, a commercial development company representing Dollar General, to rezone 1.71 acres in Horse Shoe from rural residential to community commercial until it submits a traffic study. </p><p>The vote came after residents objected to the store's proposed entrance near the intersection of Banner Farm Road and Highway 64 in Horse Shoe. </p><p>The Broadway Group agreed to commissioners' request that it perform a traffic impact study near the proposed store location, which residents say is a dangerous stretch of the highway. </p><p>“They actually made their decision before the (commissioners') meeting was even over with,” said Interim Planning Director Autumn Radcliff. “They said, 'No problem – we can do that.' They have just communicated with us this week and they should be sending that to us soon.”</p><p>Radcliff said the rezoning request won't immediately go back to commissioners until county staff has a chance to review the traffic study, talk it over with DOT and “make sure all the assumptions are correct and that they haven't omitted anything.”</p><p>“I suspect, within the next month or so, they (the commissioners) will discuss it again,” she said.</p><p>The proposed Dana store location already has commercial zoning, and also differs from the Horse Shoe store site from a traffic standpoint, Radcliff said. </p><p>“It's pretty flat and it's got good visibility in every direction,” she said. </p><p>District Engineer Steve Cannon said DOT has not issued a driveway permit for the Dana site because The Broadway Group has not yet applied for one. He said DOT has given preliminary approval for the Horse Shoe store's driveway, contingent on it being rezoned to commercial.</p><p>“We're going to review that (traffic study), as well,” Cannon said. “It did not meet our requirements for a traffic impact study, but we'll review one now that it's being done.”</p><p>Cannon said DOT did not require a traffic impact study for the store because “our cut-off is 3,000 vehicles per day, and that's (the equivalent of) about 55,000 square feet of retail.” At less than 17 percent of that, Dollar General stores “just generally don't produce that much traffic.”</p><p>In pointing out the dangers of another driveway on Highway 64, one Horse Shoe resident cited DOT statistics showing 32 accidents between Cummings Road and Banner Farm from 2007-2011. </p><p>But Cannon said the crash history at the Highway 64/Banner Farm junction is “just a handful over a four- or five-year period. It's not a hazardous area.”</p><p>Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.</p>